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WORLD NEWS Thursday 5 March 2020

Egyptian army says

high-profile Islamic

militant executed

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt ex- handed over to Egypt in
ecuted on Wednesday March. The militant leader
one of its most high-profile has been a valuable target
militant leaders, the military for Egyptian security forces
said, after his conviction for eager to obtain valuable
his role in planning scores of intelligence for its years-
deadly attacks against the long fight against militants.
country's security forces. Ashmawi helped found
Hisham el-Ashmawi, a for- Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a ji-
mer Egyptian special forc- hadi organization based in
es officer turned Islamic Egypt's northern Sinai prov-
militant, was sentenced to ince that has seen an in-
death by a military court in surgency waged there for
November in two separate years. His military expertise
cases for his participation — he left the Egyptian army In this photo taken on Sunday, March 1, 2020, Turkey-backed opposition fighters help a fellow
fighter wounded in fighting with Syrian government forces and their allies in Sarmin, south of Idlib,
in scores of militant attacks in 2011 — transformed the Syria.
on government targets. tiny group into a well-orga- Associated Press
A civilian court also Mon- nized guerrilla band that
death along with 36 other on security forces in Sinai. Syrian, Turkish armies engage in
day sentenced him to later inflicted painful blows

militants on terror-related Beit al-Maqdis swore al-
charges. legiance to the extremist new deadly clashes in Idlib
Col. Tamer el-Rifai, a mili- Islamic State group in No-
tary spokesman, said on vember 2014 and took to
his Facebook page that renaming itself as "Welayet By SUZAN FRASER and istry's statement said the meeting.
el-Ashmawi was executed Sinai," or the province of Si- VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV latest Syrian attack on its Russian officials have said
Wednesday by hanging. nai. Associated Press troops also wounded six they hold Turkey respon-
He posted a photo of the El-Ashmawi, however, did ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — soldiers. sible for the collapse of
militant in a long beard not declare his allegiance Two more Turkish soldiers It did not provide further a cease-fire agreement
and wearing a bright or- to IS, which was then at were killed Wednesday in details. reached in Sochi, Russia in
ange jumpsuit that is usual- the peak of its power and a Syrian government at- The assault came as Turk- 2018. They say Ankara has
ly worn by those sentenced controlled about a third of tack in Syria's northwest, ish President Recep Tayyip failed to honor the deal
to death. both Iraq and neighboring the country's Defense Min- Erdogan was scheduled to and rein in militants who
He said el-Ashmawi was Syria. istry said, as steady clashes depart for Moscow, where continued attacking Syrian
convicted in 14 crimes in- In an audio recording re- between the two national he said he aims to broker and Russian targets.
cluding a 2014 ambush leased in 2015 that is be- armies continued to rack a cease-fire in Syria with Turkey has rejected the
that killed 22 Egyptian mili- lieved to be authentic, el- up casualties. Russian President Vladimir Russian assertion, saying
tary border guards near the Ashmawi allied himself with Turkey has sent thousands Putin. Ankara was making prog-
border with Libya, and the the Islamic State group's ri- of troops into the area to Turkey and Russia are the ress against radical groups
2013 assassination attempt val, al-Qaida, led by Egyp- support Syrian insurgents two main power brokers in Idlib when the Syrian
against the interior minister tian militant Ayman al-Za- holed up there, but hasn't in Syria and each supports government launched its
at the time, Mohammed wahri. Such attacks have been able to stop a Rus- rival sides in the nine-year offensive.
Ibrahim. been part of an Islamic in- sian-backed Syrian govern- conflict. Earlier on Wednesday,
El-Ashmawi was captured surgency spearheaded by ment offensive to retake "We expect to reach a Russian Defense Ministry
in October 2018 in the Liby- the IS affiliate. The insurgen- Idlib province. shared view of the cause spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor
an city of Derna, a longtime cy gained strength after A Syrian opposition war of the current crisis, its con- Konashenkov assailed Tur-
bastion of Islamic militants, the 2013 military overthrow monitor said nine Syrian sequences and agree on key for shielding "terrorists"
by the forces of Libyan of a freely elected but di- soldiers were also killed in a set of measures to over- in Idlib, a statement that re-
commander Khalifa Hifter, visive Muslim Brotherhood Turkish drone attacks in the come it," Russian presiden- flected Moscow's forceful
an Egyptian ally. He was president.q area. tial spokesman Dmitry Pes- posture ahead of the Syria
The Turkish Defense Min- kov said of the upcoming talks.q